Rental Disputes in Dubai: The 6-Day Settlement Route
Dubai's Rental Disputes Centre settled 2,350 landlord-tenant cases worth AED 401m in nine months. How the settlement route works and what it costs.
A rent cheque bounces, a renewal turns into an argument, or a tenant is told to leave because the flat has been sold. In Dubai, disputes like these between landlords and tenants go to the Rental Disputes Centre (RDC), the judicial body that hears rental cases in the emirate. Most people picture a long court file. The RDC’s nine-month figures for 2026 point to a much shorter route: an amicable settlement, called sulh in Arabic, reached with a conciliator and signed off by a judge.
According to figures from the RDC reported by Emarat Al Youm and Aletihad on 9 October 2026, the centre completed 2,350 amicable settlement cases between January and the end of September 2026, with a total value of AED 401 million, and an average of 6 days per case. The RDC confirmed the nine-month result and the 6-day average in its own post on 10 October. This guide explains what that route is, what it costs, and what it means for a landlord, a tenant and the agent in between. It is orientation, not legal advice.
First, the words
- Amicable settlement (sulh, صلح) is an agreement the landlord and the tenant reach together, with the help of an RDC conciliator, instead of waiting for a judge to rule on the case.
- A conciliator is the RDC official who runs the settlement session and helps both sides reach terms.
- Ejari is Dubai’s official system for registering a lease. The registered lease is the first document the RDC asks for.
- An executory instrument (سند تنفيذي) is a document that can be enforced directly, the way a court judgment can. In the RDC’s wording, a settlement approved by the supervising judge has that force, and the RDC says it can be enforced at the centre.
What the nine-month figures say
The three numbers come from the RDC and cover January to September 2026: 2,350 settled cases, AED 401 million in total value, and about six days on average to close a case. In the Emarat Al Youm report, the head of the centre, Judge Abdulqader Mousa Mohammed, links that speed to the conciliation and settlement department’s handling of files, from the first study of the dispute to an agreed solution.
Two cautions when you read them. The AED 401 million is the total value of the settled cases, and the RDC has not published how it splits between rent claims, deposits or other amounts. The six days is an average, so a single case can take longer. We have not divided one number by the other to build an “average case”, because the RDC does not publish one.
How the settlement route works
The RDC’s service page for the dispute lawsuit for amicable settlement (Arabic version: دعوى النزاع للتسوية الودية) sets out the steps:
- File the case. Either online on the RDC website, after creating an account, or at a Real Estate Services Trustees centre, the licensed service counters where staff enter the file for you.
- Upload the documents and pay the fee after the file is checked electronically.
- Attend the conciliation session remotely, through the RDC’s tele-litigation system, which runs hearings by video.
- Sign the agreement, or withdraw the claim, through the website. The settlement is signed by both parties and the conciliator, then approved by a supervising judge.
The RDC lists registration as taking one business day. All documents must be in Arabic or legally translated into Arabic, and they are uploaded online. The centre does not accept paper copies.
The documents to prepare
- A copy of the latest lease registered in Ejari.
- For an individual, a copy of the Emirates ID, the UAE national identity card. For a company, the trade licence and the photo ID of the manager or owner.
- A bank letter or statement showing the claimant’s IBAN, the international bank account number the money will be paid to.
- For an eviction claim, a copy of the notarised notice, a formal legal notice served through a notary public, with the notification officer’s report, or a registered-post notice with its delivery receipt.
- Anything that supports the claim, such as a power of attorney, a property management contract, letters and emails, cheques, and electricity and water bills.
What it costs
The RDC publishes the fees on the same page:
- Claims about the lease itself (eviction, renewal, rent, ending a lease in force, or return to a property evicted for demolition and rebuilding): 3.5% of the annual rent, with a minimum of AED 500 and a maximum of AED 20,000.
- Money claims: 3.5% of the amount claimed, with a minimum of AED 500 and a maximum of AED 15,000.
- Small fixed fees: AED 100 for serving the case, AED 10 knowledge fee and AED 10 innovation fee, plus AED 25 to register a power of attorney if there is one. Filing at a Trustees centre adds a partner service fee of AED 130 plus VAT on that fee.
The detail that matters for this route: if conciliation ends in a settlement, half of the basic claim fee is refunded. As an illustration of the published rate only, a rent claim on a lease of AED 100,000 a year would carry a 3.5% fee of AED 3,500, and a settlement would bring half of that basic fee back. Check the RDC page on the day you file, because fees can change.
Why it matters to a landlord or investor
For an investor who rents out a flat in Dubai, a dispute is usually a cash-flow problem before it is a legal one: rent stops, or the unit cannot be re-let. A route that closes in days on average, ends in a document the RDC says it can enforce, and returns half of the basic fee is a different calculation from a full lawsuit. It also rewards good files. A registered Ejari lease, clean cheque records and written notices are what the RDC asks for first.
Ownership changes are a common trigger. On 6 October the RDC reminded owners that selling a property to a new owner does not affect an existing tenancy contract: the new owner is bound by all its terms until the end of the term, with no one-sided changes. If you buy a tenanted unit, you buy the lease with it.
Why it matters to an agent
Leasing agents and property managers are often the first people a landlord or a tenant calls when a lease goes wrong. Knowing the settlement route, the document list and the fee rule lets you explain the next step in plain words, without giving legal advice. Before a lease is signed, the RDC also offers a free Rental Good Conduct Certificate service, which lets each party see the other party’s rental case history in the RDC system, instantly, on the website or the Dubai REST app.
The settlement route starts with a lease that was registered properly. We explain what Ejari covers in Ejari Registers the Lease, Not the Sale, and the fee for long leases in Long-Term Lease Registration: 4% of Total Rent for the Whole Lease Period.
A short checklist before a dispute
- Keep the Ejari lease current and keep a copy you can upload.
- Put notices in writing, and use a notarised notice or registered post where the law asks for it, for example before an eviction claim.
- Keep the payment trail: cheques, transfers, receipts and the IBAN the money should go to.
- Arrange an Arabic translation of any document that is in another language.
- Read the RDC page on the day, and speak to a lawyer if the amount or the eviction question is serious.
What we did not claim
We have not said that every case settles, how long any single case takes, or how the AED 401 million splits between types of claim, because the RDC has not published that. The 2,350 cases and AED 401 million are RDC figures as reported by Emarat Al Youm and Aletihad on 9 October 2026. The 6-day average and the nine-month period are confirmed in the RDC’s own post of 10 October 2026. The steps, documents and fees are taken from the RDC service page as we read it on 11 October 2026.
Orientation only, not personalised legal advice. Confirm with the Rental Disputes Centre and a UAE-licensed lawyer before you file or settle a case.
